WWF Statement on the NHLA 2016 Public Policy Agenda

World Wildlife Fund issued the following statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, director of WWF’s Climatico program, in response to the 2016 Hispanic Public Policy Agenda announced today by the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) which for the first time included a section on environment and energy, addressing a call for action on key issues around climate change, such as for the Clean Power Plan, and the Green Climate Fund.“This is a critical addition to the growing chorus of voices calling for more action on climate change and environmental issues. The fact that the leading national Latino organizations in the US are including environmental issues among their policy priorities shows just how important these issues are to the Latino community. This is a call for action to address the real pain Latinos are feeling when it comes to the impacts of environmental degradation. Whether it is because they are losing their jobs in California due to the drought, or because their homes are being threatened by sea level rise in Florida, Latinos are bearing the brunt of the impact. Latinos also understand the toll extreme weather has on their ancestral homes and countries of origin: in 2015 over 13 million people were affected by natural disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean. As an organization that works both in the domestic and international context, we look forward to working with NHLA and others to support efforts to fight climate change and switch to renewable energy.”